Dragon's Fate
by artemis-3394
Summary: The queen of the dragons has awakened, and with a change of heart bewildering to everyone.  When she meets a young general in Circle Daybreak, will they fall in love, or will it all end in chaos?  Rated M for future chapters. OC-OC I.Dominick-OC  on hold
1. Chapter 1

**AN: It's been a while since I've read these books so feel free to smack me if I get something wrong! And no... I don't own the Night World series... *cries* **

**Please review! :D It makes me feel specialz! tehee ^_^  
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Chapter One

Rhea's tomb was warm and peaceful as it had been for over two thousand years. Ever since that group of witches had sealed her within it. She had been angry then, brooding and malicious. She had hated the witches and a cruel smile had lit upon her lips when she felt their life force drained out of them, even as the Earth opened to swallow her whole. For centuries she had waited for one of her people to come and release her; and when they didn't come she waited centuries more. Never did it occur to her that sometime during all that waiting, she would forgive the witches for imprisoning her, and even less did it come to mind that she would even agree with them and feel indebted to them for their sacrifice. The shapeshifters had been out of line with their vicious ways, Rhea only wished that she and her kin had been imprisoned sooner.

It was a subtle realization when it came: she had been wrong. Rhea, queen of all 'shifters and conquered ruler of that small world, had been terribly, terribly wrong. A new hate rose into her soul – if she even still had one of which to boast – but rather than being directed at the witches, it was instead intended for herself. How could she have been so cruel? How could she have been so merciless? How could she have let herself loose control so thoroughly? How, how, how? These questions and thousands more drifted through her head and very few were gifted with answers, even less of which were most likely correct. Then came the 'why's'. Why had she let herself become such a monster? Why hadn't she been stopped sooner? Why hadn't her own people seen that she was wrong? Why? WHY? **WHY**?

No answer….

Centuries more passed and still Rhea slept in a deep, enchanted slumber. She couldn't die or age; she could hardly even consider this magically induced hibernation to be living. Of course her heart still beat endlessly in her breast, and sure her brain still functioned properly, but she couldn't move or open her eyes and the meal she had eaten directly before her entombment remained undigested in her stomach. It wasn't a very appetizing thought, but it was true. She was – for lack of a better word – paused.

That is, until a certain group of witches woke one of her kin. She had probed the world for this one awakened being, surprised by whom the Night World had chosen. "_So Azhdeha, you would work as their pet just to stretch your legs?" _Rhea had goaded, attacking his mind vehemently with fangs and claws of anger and resentment. _"You always were easy."_

"_Your jealousy speaks for you my queen. You are simply angry it was me that was called upon first." _Replied a cool, evil voice in her head as knives of cruelty and malice grappled against her for dominance in this clairvoyant battle.

"_Jealousy? You amuse me fledgling! How could I ever stoop as low as to be jealous of a __**snake**__?" _With one last jab of her mind – which she was pleased to find it struck a blow in spite of herself – she spat an insult at him and retreated behind her mental barriers, leaving that traitor by himself in a no-man's-land. He remained on the outer edges of her consciousness for quite a while, but eventually he grew bored of his futile attempts to penetrate her mind and disappeared.

Even after Rhea had felt the dark cloud that was Azhdeha recede, the ageless queen waited before revealing herself to the world. She waited for at least a month, the last week of her imprisonment spent in vengeful celebration when she felt the death of that dark traitor.

Finally, with ancient power flowing through her veins, the shapeshifter queen blasted out of her tomb and out of the Earth that had so long ago consumed her. Oxygen flowed into her veins, clear and refreshing; a pleasant change from the stale stuff that had been circulating her system during her captivity. She breathed in a deep breath, flexing her muscles and rejoicing in the world she had returned to. Her ever changing eyes took in anything and everything they could as the limbs of her human form returned to their corresponding functions.

Rhea Titan had returned home at last.

Garth stretched as the sun light poured in through the crack between his curtains. The morning seemed to come earlier and brighter as his missions got longer and harder. He groaned and reluctantly rolled out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he grabbed a clean T-shirt and yanked it over his head. The pants at the foot of his bed were still dusted with dirt in some places but he pulled them on over his boxers and tried to brush some of the debris off as he walked out of his bedroom.

The safe house was unusually busy that morning and he reached out a hand to snag the arm of a flighty looking werewolf that had been part of his team on the last mission he had done as she jogged by. Irritation showed plainly on her face until she realized who she was looking at. "My apologies Sir, but I'm kind of in a hurry…" The young wolf let the sentence drop lest she risk angering the man holding her.

"Yes of course, but what's going on? This place is never this busy, and I mean—"

Someone shouting down the hall drew both of their ears and they jerked their heads simultaneously in the general direction from which the voice had come. Before he knew it, the young werewolf had squirmed out of Garth's grasp and was once more jogging down the hall.

"I'm sorry Sir! Really I am! If you wanna know what's going on then go find Thierry!" She called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.

"Wait! He's here?" The unkempt man yelled after her, but she was either out of hearing range or was out right ignoring him. He suspected it was the latter.

"Oh come on!" Garth growled under his breath before turning the opposite way as the werewolf, heading for the stairs – he never took the elevator, it was a personal choice. He took the steps three at a time, practically jumping over the banister when they made their about-face at every half-floor. After what seemed like hours – not really, of course, he was just impatient – his feet finally stomped onto the first floor. His head was instantly on swivel as he searched with something akin to franticness for Thierry. He wanted to know what was going on and he also wanted to talk about maybe taking on fewer missions, or at least some easier ones until he had time to recoup.

The safe house was stationed in the upper five levels of a hotel, so more than a few head turned as Garth burst out of the door leading into the stairway. Some looked at him with fear, others with amusement, and all with curious interest. With a jolt, he realized what he must look like. With an even bigger, and maybe more influential, jolt he noticed a security guard eyeing him suspiciously. The young Daybreaker made an apologetic smile and spoke to him in a low, joking voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to disrupt the peace, but I need to get outta here before the girl upstairs wakes up." He joked, disgust at the shallowness and heartlessness his excuse implied. However, as he had expected, the guard took the bait and gave him a playful elbow in the ribs, chuckling as he returned to scanning the hotel lobby for a more likely threat.

Garth scanned the room as well, but his quarry was located within a few seconds. Thierry's white-blond head bobbed toward the door as he strode across the room through a sea of people that seemed to part for him to walk. The young man set off for him, hoping to at least catch him as he walked out the door.

"Thierry!" Garth called over the noise of the crowd as they reached the long line of glass doors. The vampire lord turned his head and caught his soldier's eye. The ashen haired man nodded his head at the young man calling his name and jerked his chin outside before stepping through the doors.

"I was hoping I would see you today, Garth." Thierry said as his man reached his side and his personal limousine pulled up to the curb. He opened the door and motioned for the young man behind him to follow. "Come on. We'll talk in the car."

Garth nodded his head and ducked into the vehicle, plopping down onto the cushiony black leather seats. He was surprised at how worn the lord of the Night World looked, as if he hadn't slept in weeks. Although the vampire didn't really need that much sleep, that was about as good of a correlation that the Daybreaker soldier could come up with at this early hour. "Thierry, what's going on? That hotel is **never** that full of Night People. Seriously not **ever**." Garth asked as the car moved forward, slightly worried now that he saw how his commander was acting. "Did something go wrong? Did one of the Wild Powers—"

Thierry cut him off with a wave of his hand, the other coming up to run tiredly down his face with a ragged sigh. Moments later turned his head to look at the young man, his eyes seeming black in the dim lighting of the car. "Garth, something's happened. And I am, for what seems to be the hundredth time this week, at a loss as to what I should do." The worn out vampire confided, the look in his eyes almost pleading. "Hannah is at her parents' house this week or I swear I'd go insane. With the Crone of the witches being killed—oh don't jump like that and duck your head it wasn't your fault—but with the witches in a disarray trying to replace their leaders as quickly as possible, while at the same time enact revenge without ruining the recent tie with the shapeshifters. And in the middle of all this, everyone looks to me like I have the answers to any problem that just happens to pop up!" By the time he was finished, Thierry looked more than a little unsettled and he was out of breath. With a coughing rasp, the vampire continued, "And on top of that, I need to feed again and so every human I look at turns into a walking talking blood bag that I want so desperately to tear into and suck every last drop of blood from. Goddess, do you know how agonizing that is?" He smacked his forehead, remembering whom he was talking to. "Well of course you do, when is the last time you and your men went out for a hunt? You know exactly how agonizing it is." Finally the lord fell silent and let his head fall into his hands with a groan.

The young man glanced out the window anxiously, wondering if he could jump out the door if his commander carried on with this rant. Thankfully, he saw the huge mansion come into view as they pulled down the long driveway, trees standing on either side of the gravel road on an ageless vigil. "Well, Sir, you know maybe you should just take a few days off." Garth suggested, trying to calm Thierry down before they had to go inside and face who knew what. "You know, maybe take Hannah and go on a hunting—I mean! Camping trip! Hey look we're here! Heh, heh…" The young Daybreaker leapt out of the car before it even came to a complete stop, rushing around to Thierry's side of the car to make it appear as if he had been hoping to miss another break down.

However, as the Night World lord stepped out of the car – nodding obligingly at Garth as he did so – his face was composed and serious. Not a trace of the emotion he had unleashed in the limousine showed on his stony visage, he was completely hidden behind his mask.

Garth followed Thierry up the steps and through the ornate double doors into his mansion. The entry hall was empty but Lupe came from around a corner to meet them, a hesitant smile on her face. "Hey." She said simply before turning and leading them to the sitting room.

Once there, Garth realized what kind of a something his commander had been talking about in the car. Poppy gave them a wide smile, her pixie-like face seeming to brighten up any atmosphere, and James beside her gave a slight nod though his face stayed grim and uncertain. On the other side of the room, Ash Redfern gave a wry smirk as his eyes flashed through a wide array of colors. Close by him stood Quinn who had his hand resting on the shoulder of his soulmate Rashel who was currently sitting in a plush red velvet chair and looking very tense. Leaning against the wall across from Garth and Thierry leaned Galen with Keller sitting in another chair, similar to the one Rashel was sitting in. The fore mentioned of the pair leaned with his arms resting on the back of the chair and his chin resting on his soulmate's head, one hand distractedly playing with her black hair.

For a brief second, Garth felt a twinge of pain in his heart that he was missing out on what these couples flaunted so ignorantly. But as quick as it had come, he pushed the thought out of his mind, telling himself that these were his friends and he wanted only the best for them. Still, the throb in his heart reminded him what it meant to be lonely.

Unexpectedly, movement caught Garth's eye from the center of the room, ending any thought of love and slamming his mind back onto the current situation. And as the young man took in the breathtakingly beautiful young woman silently sitting cross legged with her palms resting on the ground beside her. White hair, blue and purple veining subtly throughout the strands, cascaded down to the middle of her back and bangs cut across her forehead to taper down and frame her face. Her cat-like eyes were constantly changing color, somewhat like Ash's but hers were more complete. More vivid and beautiful. Her cheek bones were angled slightly and her lips turned upward ever-so-slightly in the corners giving a pouting, mischievous look to her feline visage. Her figure was slender though not too much so, she was simply built lithely and agilely with her muscles rolling beneath tanned skin with every small move. A white spaghetti-strap tank top covered her torso and faded blue jeans covered her legs. A pair of black riding boots came up just below her knees and were dusted with dirt. To say in the least, she bore a hauntingly striking resemblance to a goddess. Garth's heart raced at the mere sight of her. He though it would beat completely out of his chest when she returned his gaze, her eyes flashing from a blue-violet, to blood-red, to aquamarine, to sapphire, and back to the blue swirled with violet. Her lips parted slightly as she breathed in, tasting the air. Tasting him? The thought was surprisingly new to him, but it made sense in an outdated sort of way. And that's when it hit him. Heartstoppingly beautiful, ever changing eyes, old habits that could be considered **ancient**!

"Oh Goddess…" Garth breathed as the realization flooded over him. "That's a dragon…"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm sorry if the ending is kind of sub-par, I'm sooooooo tired x) haha tests are not fun! Don't let your teachers fool you into thinking school is cool because it most definitely isn't! Unfortunately, by state law it is mandatory -_- Ugh, 6:30 here I come *zonks out on the couch snoring***

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Chapter Two

Rhea knew the mistake she made the second her feet hit the ground in front of the giant mansion. She was instantly surrounded by vampires, witches, and a few of her own shapeshifters. Judging this as the time to stand down, she quickly shielded her mind and tried as hard as she could to pull back a large portion of the aura of sheer supremacy that surrounded her. Even with her attempts at frailty, a few of the guards shrunk away slightly with looks of surprise and maybe a little fear. With agonizing slowness compared to the normal swiftness of her movements, the ancient queen lifted her hands in a submissive gesture, not wanting to feel the wrath of the various weapons these Night People wielded. She opened her mouth to tell them her peaceful intentions, but amazingly, a blond headed vampire came running out of the mansion, a knife in his hand. Rhea gave a small whimpering noise as she let him tackle her to the ground and place the cold edge of the blade on her neck, one knee painfully pressing against her rips while one of his hands tangled in her hair and yanked hard to expose more of her throat. Suddenly, his mouth was at her ear, lips brushing against the edge of her cheek bone as he whispered venomously. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut through your neck right now." He snarled, careful to make sure none of his men could hear.

In an attempt to show her passiveness, Rhea also kept her voice low enough for only the vampire on top of her to hear clearly. "Because I am not here for blood." She replied, keeping her voice calm and detached; at this point she couldn't afford to come off as a threat.

"And how do I know you won't just kill us all the second I let you up?" The vampire growled suspiciously, obviously struggling to keep his voice low in his raging emotions.

"You do not. However, allow me to mention that if I had wanted you or your people dead, then you would have been oblivious to my existence until you were choking on your own blood." Then to emphasize her point, Rhea continued, letting tiny tendrils of her strength wrap around his mind and caress it as if it were little more than a toy. Which in comparison it truly was. "And by now, I am certain that you are aware of exactly what I am. So, will you let me help you? Or will you kill me on prejudice alone?" Try as she might, the dragoness couldn't help but feel a small tremor of fear in her heart as the vampire hesitated to answer.

Finally, he rose and yanked her to her feet after him, towing her along and into the mansion. He led her into a small living room on the side of the entrance hall and plunked her brusquely in a plush, red velvet chair before jerking a cell phone from his pocket and dialing a number rapidly. Rhea hear it ring a few times after he had brought it to his ear, watching with interest as he spoke a few quiet words and then clapped it shut and replaced it in his pocket. With a dangerous look in his eye, the vampire turned to Rhea and peered at her distrustfully. "Who are you?" He finally demanded with a slight glare still in his eye.

"Rhea." The dragoness replied simply, watching the vampire in case he decided he preferred her dead.

The vampire paced the floor for a moment, looking like a caged lion with pictures of African plains dangling before its eyes. "Why are you here, and how did you wake up?" He inquired.

"Which question would you like answered first?" The queen asked, unused to being spoken to in such a disrespectful manner. When the vampire simply glared at her in irritation, Rhea remembered that she was trying to seem complacent and quickly checked herself. "Right, um, in order then. I am here to help you, I realized I have made," she paused, searching for the right word, "mistakes…that I feel compelled to remedy. As for how I was awoken, let me just say that there are some very sloppy spell casters out there…"

The vampire gave a half snort half laugh, seeming almost to roll his dark eyes as he ran a hand through his pale hair. "I'm guessing that means you were awakened with the first dragon then?" He asked a bit skeptically.

Rhea winced, she couldn't help it. That blasted fledgling had apparently done some damage to these new age Night Worlders, and now she was being prosecuted for it. "I suppose you mean that wretched Azhdeha?" She growled; anger showing clearly as she spat the dragon's name.

There was a commotion at the door as the vampire nodded his head slightly, opening his mouth as if to speak before the door burst open to reveal about seven more of the vampire's henchmen. "Ah, I'm glad you're here, if you could just watch her for a moment I need to go check some of the safe houses and make sure there haven't been any recent incidents…" And with that, the vampire was gone, leaving me with seven confused and slightly worried strangers.

In the hour that he was gone, I took the opportunity to find out more about my babysitters. One was a human, but she was strong; more than capable at defending herself I could tell simply by looking at her. Beside her was a vampire, made telling from his aura and there was a connection between them that the dragoness could feel so strongly it was almost visible. Then beside them stood a tall blond headed young vampire whose eyes changed almost as often as her own. He was lamia however, and though he also had the same almost visible bond, its end point was far away. There was another couple sitting behind her, they were both shapeshifters she sensed, but unfortunately couldn't see what they looked like. Even so, she didn't need her eyes to know the bond was also there between them. On her right, was yet another couple of vampires. One was made and the other lamia, between them was the bond as well. For a brief moment, Rhea felt a slight twinge in her heart that she couldn't share in the connection these people had. But, just as quickly as the notion had come, the dragoness pushed it from her mind.

The rest of the hour was spent in silence, every once in a while one of the Night Worlders speaking up in an attempt at conversation, but every time the room faded back into quiet stillness. At long last, Rhea heard the front door of the mansion open and shut along with the clicking of boot soles on the marble floor outside. Seconds later, in walked the vampire with a female werewolf and a male shapeshifter in tow. At first, the ancient queen paid little attention to either of the new comers when the young man managed to catch her eye. He was stunning. His black hair was tousled in a way that made it clear it almost never did as the man wanted, and the silver orbs that watched everything while still managing to focus on one thing in the room: her. She had his attention just as completely as he held hers. Rhea took in everything about him, the rolling twists of his muscles that lay beneath the shirt he wore, the grace and strength that he exhibited with every step of his long legs; the broadness of his shoulders and his wide hands. Her heart actually fluttered in her chest. Feelings rose in her heart that she hadn't felt since…well, since she had been entombed so many centuries ago.

She felt her lips fall open slightly in her awe as her breathing got shallower and shallower. He seriously took her breath away. Without meaning to, a single thought floated through her mind: soulmates. _No! Get a hold of yourself girl! He's like them, he hates you._ She told herself, trying to force away these thoughts before her mind ran away with them. But even when she ignored the way her heart throbbed as she continued to gaze into those eyes of quick silver, she felt the string that connected her heart to his. The ancient queen didn't know if he felt the same pull between them, but she didn't care. As long as she could love someone so entirely then that was good enough for her.

And then he spoke. "Oh Goddess, that's a dragon."

Rhea winced visibly at the shock and hints of disgust in his voice. _So you do hate me…_ She thought brokenly, a tearing sensation stretching across her heart. She turned her head away; no longer able to look him in the eye as guilt over came her. _It is well that you should…_ However,she didn't have time to think about his hatred of her and her kin because the first vampire was giving orders. "Alright, Garth, you take her up to an empty room and I want her under 24/7 watch for the next two days." He barked decisively then turned to the dragoness sulking in the plush velvet chair. "And you, if you're really as peaceful as you say you are, then you won't have a problem with that."

He didn't give her any room to argue so Rhea simply nodded her head and stood to follow Garth out, her mind consumed by thoughts of his name. Protector, it meant, resolute protector. _Well little changeling, in the end it might very well be I who protects you… But let us hope it does not come to such measures in your life time._ She prayed silently with whatever god happened to be listening.

The pair walked up three flights of stairs before Garth chose a secluded room. It was at the back of a hallway, and had only one window beneath which stood three guards. They really weren't taking any chances this was a trick. Oh well, she would show them what guilt truly was in the next few days.

"There are some clothes in here if you want to change out of those." Garth called from a large walk-in closet directly to the right of the door. Rhea looked down at herself and smirked, she looked more than a little travel worn in her current outfit. So, she tailed him into the closet and looked at the new style of clothes.

"It's a lot different from a plain old animal skin…" She mused, examining a pair of designer jeans with the price tag still on. Her eyes widened. "And expensive!" She looked up with a smile that quickly faded from her face when she saw the way the shapeshifter was looking at her. The dragoness glanced from left to right and then stared worriedly at her current babysitter. "What?"

The young man shook his head and shut his mouth as if just realizing he had been spacing out. "It's just," he began, sounding very confused, "how do you know so much about this era if you only **just** woke up?" He studied her skeptically while waiting for an answer.

Rhea shrugged and turned her head down uncomfortably. "Well… I did not just wake up…" She confessed, glancing up at Garth to see if he was angry yet. "When I felt Azhdeha awaken I stirred then and my mind spread out over the world in search for him. Dragons learn quickly, it is how we survive. You learn or you die. So, when there were so many things that had changed since my time, I took about a week to figure everything out…" He still wasn't angry yet, simply…amazed?

"Wow, heh, I couldn't learn that fast even if my life depended on it." He grinned, kindly making Rhea's heart ache with longing. "But I guess my question about how you know English is kind of a mute point now too." He laughed softly and then took the jeans from her hands. Hanging them up and pulling down another pair instead, seconds later following with a plain black tank top. "Here, why don't you try these." He offered the clothes to the foreigner and then moved to walk past her.

Everything would have been fine if only the closet had been made for two people to fit easily inside. As it was, he slightly brushed up against Rhea as he edged for the exit. Tingles of electricity flowed from the point of contact and he froze, their eyes suddenly glued together. She had never noticed how silver they were, it was almost pure. Almost. Except for the traces of light blue that knifed in from the edges of his irises, yet still in that imperfection they were a work of art. "Oh.." Rhea breathed, not daring to speak too loud lest it break the spell.

More tingles came as Garth slowly raised a hand and brushed it against her cheek to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The movement brought him suddenly closer and the bundle of clothes dropped from the ancient queen's hands as she lifted them to place on his chest. Her first impulse had been to push him away, but as her palms laid across his upper torso, something abut the way his muscles were chiseled into the skin beneath his shirt made them clutch fistfuls of the cloth and gently pull him closer. He obligingly took a step forward and lifted his arms to brace himself on the wall behind her, one well toned limb on either side of her head. He lowered his lips down to hers, barely a hair's width away, and she closed the gap with eagerness racing through her heart. His lips were like fire, they warmed her mouth and sent a tingly bubblyness throughout Rhea's body. She sighed and he slid and arm around her back, the other moving so his hand could tangle itself in her hair at the back of her head. Garth clutched the slender dragoness to him as if she was his last life line, and she clung to him just as desperately.

The kiss ended when they were both gasping for air and staring longingly into the other's eyes. "Soulmate…." Garth whispered, awe struck certainty in his voice even though he meant it as a question.

"How?" Rhea asked quietly, her voice barely audible with her excitement and nervousness. She wanted him so badly she didn't dare do anything that might break this spell he had suddenly fallen prey to.

Garth simply smiled at her question and pressed his lips against hers after whispering two final words. Two words that echoed through the dragoness's head as if he had shouted them: "Who cares?"

And in that moment, Rhea wondered absently who **did** care. She had finally found the one person she could connect with and who would love her unconditionally, and who cared except for those two? The woman was happy, jubilant even, all traces of guilt and nervousness had disappeared as she entangled herself in the arms of this man. She was faintly aware they were on the ground now with him hovering over her and showering her lips and neck with feathery kisses, but all she cared about was him. Their minds brushed across each other and he welcomed the merging of their consciousnesses. However she was a little more hesitant, she held a dark past. So much anger and hate and blood… How could she ever let him see that?

'_It's alright, that was then and this is now.'_

Rhea hadn't even known she had allowed enough of a connection to build for telepathy, but the feeling of his voice inside her head was oddly comforting. She let down her mental barriers, the walls coming down one by one until finally she was exposed down to the core.

'_Oh goddess…'_ Came Garth's voice, bouncing around in her head as he explored the ancient queen's thoughts.

Instantly, Rhea began to pull her mind back, thinking he had seen too much than he had wanted. She was surprised when he stopped her, wrapping his own thoughts around her in a sort of telepathic embrace and holding her captive in those tendrils of consciousness. _'No, don't go.'_ He pleaded, beseechingly.

'_But… My past…'_ The woman argued half-heartedly. _'My past is—'_

'_Your past.'_ Garth interrupted with his alternate ending. _'Stay with me now… In the present… You don't ever have to go to your past again, just…stay with me.'_

Rhea nodded her head and wrapped her arms around this man, her soulmate. Love blossomed in her heart as they held on so anxiously to the other. Love caused her heart to throb and the tears to grow in the corners of her eyes as she sent up a prayer to the gods, knowing Garth echoed her words in his own thoughts.

_Thank you… Thank you…_


End file.
